He took his leave of me, bowing so low as to knock his forehead on the ground.

Day after day passed over, and still Hybatty (such was the petitioner's name) remained unnoticed. He was even rudely treated by the official hirelings who lounged around the tents. Far from resenting such conduct towards him, I rather encouraged it; for Hybatty had become my second shadow whenever I appeared abroad. At length, losing all patience, I angrily bade him return to his village and trouble me no further as the Ma,ha,raj would attend to the petition when it suited his convenience. Hybatty gave me a look that spoke stronger things than language could do, and hurried from my presence.

CHAPTER II.

S yet there appeared no probability of a battle taking

place; nevertheless, our army was kept up in full force

and constant readiness for it. Our tents were pitched on the side of a river, while a majestic banyan-tree spread itself over a rising-ground at a short distance. Thither, in the cool hour of the evening, I was accustomed to go, and remain alone in reflection upon my dependent circumstances. "Unhappy being that I am!" thought I; "neglected by parents who still remain unknown to me, though destiny has flung me in the way of the good Sawunt Rao, what claim have I upon him or upon any fellow-creature? My very existence depends upon hisshould he die, what will become of me? Should he frown upon me while living, adieu to all consequence with those around me! To obtain an honest livelihood is impossible: no trade is so unprofitable as honesty. It is very hard that, with the inclination to be just and upright, I should be compelled by the circumstances of my life to be a rogue. Could I but amass a few thousand rupees, I would lose no time in settling at Indore as a corn or grain merchant; and then," thought I, rising up with delight, "I will be honest for the rest of my days!" I had just finished making this notable resolution for conducting my future life, when I saw a little way off the figure of a tall man muffled up in shawls. He was looking everywhere around him, with a countenance full of suspicion, as if he feared lest his actions would be observed. He did not see me, it was evident; and I became very curious to know the cause of his extraordinary appearance, and the object he had in parading about in that spot

in the dusk of the evening. I immediately climbed up into the banyan-tree, and hid myself among its luxuriant foliage. The person whose steps I had been watching now approached the sacred tree; and having performed puja' to a stone deity at its foot, proceeded to unmuffle himself from his shawls, carefully folding them up and placing them under the tree. He now squatted down, and began to grumble in a low tone, "Not here! I am too early! I can wait until he comes. I know my information is correct. He comes here every evening to meditate some fresh villany no doubt." Here he paused; and my breathing paused too, for he could have meant no one but myself, I having been the only constant lounger under that sacred tree at the evening hour. "Who can this man be?" thought I; "perhaps he is some one acquainted with my parents." On this idea suggesting itself, I was on the point of descending from my hiding-place, and begging him to satisfy my curiosity; but I was luckily deterred from my intention by hearing him again talking to himself, and saying, "Well, as I could not obtain redress, and was plundered for attempting to assert my rights, this dagger, thanks to Hanoomān, has given me vengeance. My enemy is quiet enough, unless he has met with a god in the mota bowrie. That young villain, Pandurang Hàrì, shall keep Tulsajee company." There he stopped; and I almost fell from the branches of my refuge with fear when I discovered this man to be no other than the petitioner who so handsomely rewarded me on his coming to demand justice of my master. His case, notwithstanding his bribes, and the profuse way in which he distributed his nugd, remained entirely neglected to that hour. Fancy may depict, but I cannot put into language, the fear I felt, and the breathless terror that came over me, when I reflected that the creaking of a branch or the rustling of a leaf might betray The evening was still and silent as the grave. A cold perspiration stood on my forehead. The insect that fluttered around me, whose wing at another time would have been

me.

2

inaudible, seemed now to fill my ears with its hum, so alive was I to the minutest sounds. I soon heard Hybatty mutter slowly to himself again, "The young villain! the young villain! to take my rupees, to neglect and insult me! Thanks to Siva and Brahma, I want not their help now; I am paid with the silver bangles' of my enemy, and his cash to boot!" A little while after this he arose, and went to a peepal-tree a short way off, where he appeared busy about something, I could not well make out what. He was delving in the earth, and, as I afterwards found, burying his ill-gotten treasure. He now halted, as if unwilling to leave the place while there was a chance of my visiting it. He returned to the sacred tree again, and I heard the words, "Pandurang Hàrì- dagger - his greedy heart," disjointedly uttered. He afterwards, raising his voice, said, “I swear by the holy cow never to give up my revenge, though I pursue him to Oogein, and from thence to Delhi, and from Delhi to Cape Comorin; I will not rest till I have taken his blood." In a few minutes he muffled himself up in his shawls as before, and went his way. His departure was a reprieve to a condemned criminal; I seemed rescued from a suffocation worse than death. Once more my lungs got into full play, and my limbs appeared to be relieved from the heavy weight which oppressed them. When my enemy had disappeared, I descended from my hiding-place, and did not deem myself secure until 1 had joined my comrades in the camp. "It is well," thought I, as soon as I had gained a place of security-"it is well I can turn the tables upon my enemy. He has confessed a murder; and as I am to have no peace while he lives, I will try if I have not wit and interest enough to get him put out of the way. We shall see whether I cannot save him his journey to Oogein, Delhi, and Cape Comorin !"

When I reflected how corrupt all persons in authority were, I feared that, after all I could do, there would be but a small chance of beholding my foe dangling from a tree while he could command money enough to fee the farmer of the district, whose

'Rings worn about the wrists.

? A solemn Hindoo adjuration.

mercy was generally extended, even for the most flagrant crimes, to those who could purchase their impunity. The district farmers were compelled from necessity to raise money by every opportunity, and they never neglected their interests; for when a new one had not been a month in his district, he was every hour liable to be superseded by a successor, who had agreed to pay the Ma,ha,raj a higher sum for the office. On this account the actual occupant turned all robberies and murders to account, and never executed any who could purchase their lives, while the poor were sent into the other world without mercy. Thus justice was regulated, as it is in most countries, by individual caprice or expediency, instead of certain immutable principles, which should make it the same thing everywhere. I considered, therefore, that this mercenary principle in our government might tell against me after all if I appeared active in the business, and my enemy should afterwards escape by paying a fine to the farmer: for it was likely I should thus incur his threefold vengeance, and hasten my own destruction. What plan to pursue now became a matter of the utmost importance. "The tiger," I reasoned to myself, "must be deprived of his claws, and the lion of his teeth, before we can combat with them successfully. My enemy's treasures are his claws, and they are in my power. Fool that I am! are they not buried under the peepal-tree, where I saw him grubbing in the earth?" I accordingly set off for the spot, and pulling out my dagger, tried the earth around the roots of the tree for some time in vain. I was just on the point of giving up the search, when it struck against a hard substance, which I discovered, by the scanty light of the dawn (for I had taken no rest during the night), to be a brass pot, tied round with leather at the top. I could find nothing else; so closing up the hole and levelling the earth, I returned to my tent, lit my lamp, and proceeded to examine what I had found. First, there were the silver bangles of Tulsajee, the murdered man: these were worth two hundred rupees at least. Then there were gold mohurs1 tied up in long narrow bags, which the victim of my foe

1 An Eastern coin.